For the last few months, I’ve been trying to use up our “vegetable” oil before Noah started eating people food. Apparently, when the cooking oil is just labeled “vegetable,” peanut oil is often included. And the risk of severe peanut allergies decrease significantly if you keep the baby from eating any peanut products until they are at least 2 years old.

So, no “vegetable” oil for Noah.

We finally used it all up about 2 weeks ago.

I promptly forgot to get cooking oil at the grocery store. We have olive oil, and super-mild-tasting olive oil, and butter, and the margarine we use on toast, and some leftover soy margarine from when we thought Noah might be allergic to dairy in my diet.

Popcorn hates them.

We eat a lot of popcorn. And we’re purists. None of this microwave in a bag for us. Popcorn is cooked in a pot, on the  (gas) stove, with oil. And then sprinkled with salt and drizzled with butter.

Jill tried first. She used the toast margarine. So awful she threw it out.

Then I tried. Butter. Almost as awful but I ate it anyway.

Days pass.

Groceries acquired. But not cooking oil.

I curse myself and try to make popcorn using olive oil.

It works better than the butter. But just barely.

So…corn? Or canola? What’s a canola? Which makes better popcorn? Is there any argument against the store brand that I should consider seriously?